Signal mail box



|.'M. SEMENOFF.

SIGNAL MAIL BOX.

APPLlcmoN min APR.29.1921.

.Patented Nov. 21, A192,2.

jkzMeme/zj Patented Nov. 2l, 1922.

UNITED STATES IOAKIM M. SEMENOFF, OF SOUTH OSHAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA.

SIGNAL MAIL BOX.

Application filed April 29, 1921.

T o all whom t may concern Be it known that I, IoAxiM M. SnMENoFF, citizen of Russia, residing at South Oshawa, and Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Signal Mail Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mail boxes, having more particular reference to a signal device arranged in connection with the box.

The invention has for an object to provide a novel and simple electrically operated means for giving an audible signal to the occupants of a house or apartment when mail is deposited in the mail box.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claim in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

Fig. 1 of the drawings is a face view of a series of mail boxes such as are commonly arranged in the entrance ways of apartment houses, showing the system of electrical connections employed in applying the invention thereto, parts being broken away to show the manner of leading the wires.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical transverse section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

vIn the practical embodiment of the invention mail boxes 10 of the usual size and shape may be employed, these boxes being shown as provided with integral lugs 11 to receive screws 12 which pass also through a board 13 interposed between the boxes and the wall 14: of the entrance way and are screwed into the said wall. The front wall of the box is formed by a hinged door 15 kI adapted to be opened in the usual manner by a. key, and having the usual sight aperture covered by a glass pane 16.

To receive the mail I provide the door 15 with a horizontal slot normally closed by a shutter 18 hinged at its upper edge to swing outwardly and upwardly to permit of insertion of the mail inthe box. As here shown the shutter 18 is freely supported, by means of integral lugs 18, on a pintle 19 freely carried by lugs 2O on the door 15. Upon the pintle 19, midway between opposite ends of the shutter 18, is fixed an arm 21 which projects rearwardly into the box Serial No. 465,512.

and has a tip 22 of insulating material upon its free end. A coiled spring 23 which surrounds the pintle 19 and is connected at one end to said pintle and at its opposite end to one of the lugs 18 normally acts to swing the arm 21 upwardly, this movement being limited by a `third lug 21 on the door 15 engaging a projection 25 on the arm.

Fixed at one end to the top wall of the box 10 within the latter is a flat contact spring 26 which extends downwardly adjacent the end of the arm 21 in a general curvature concentric to the pintle 18 being then projected rearwardly and upwardly as at 27 adjacent a fixed contact block 28 mounted on the rear wall of the box. These contacts 26 and 28 are suitably insulated from the box as indicated at 29.

The contact 26 presents a series of ratchet like bends 26', the purpose whereof is to cause an intermittent action of the signal device. The signal device may comprise a bell 30 for each box connected by the usual feed and return wires 31 and 32 with the contacts 26 and 28 in the box. The plate 13 on which the series of boxes is mounted may be groovcd as at 34 to accommodate these wires.

When the shutter 18 is lifted for the insertion of mail in the box the arm 21 rides over the contact 26, causing an intermittent ringing of the bell 30, which can thus be readily distinguished from the ringing of the door bell, the arm 21 remaining in its lowered position after the shutter closes until the door 15 is opened when the spring 23 throws it back, it being understood that the spring is not of sufficient strength to prevent the shutter 18 closing under the iniiuence of gravity.

Having thus described my invention what claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is as follows A mail box presenting` a. mail receiving aperture, a hinged shutter closing said aper ture, an arm arranged for movement by said shutter, a fixed contact, and a movable contact adapted to be engaged by said arm, said movable contact being in the forni of a fiat spring' presenting a portion of a general curvature concentric to the hinge axis of the shutter and of ratchet like formation.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

IOAKIM M. SEMENOFF. 

